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Abstract

In peatland ecosystems, plant communities mediate a globally significant carbon store. The
effects of global environmental change on plant assemblages are expected to be a factor in
determining how ecosystem functions such as carbon uptake will respond. Using vegetation
data from 56 Sphagnum-dominated peat bogs across Europe, we show that in these ecosystems
plant species aggregate into two major clusters that are each defined by shared
response to environmental conditions. Across environmental gradients, we find significant
taxonomic turnover in both clusters. However, functional identity and functional redundancy
of the community as a whole remain unchanged. This strongly suggests that in peat bogs,
species turnover across environmental gradients is restricted to functionally similar species.
Our results demonstrate that plant taxonomic and functional turnover are decoupled, which
may allow these peat bogs to maintain ecosystem functioning when subject to future environmental change.